Draft appliance for railway-vehicles.



l. H. MILLIKEN.

DRAFT AfPL'IANGE rpn RAILWAY VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED IAN- H. 1916.

1,213,395. Patented Jan. 23,1917;

an no TTNTTE STATES PATENT FFTCE.

ISAAC H. MILLIKEII, OF ASPINXVALL, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB TO THE MoGONvVAY & TORLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVANIA.

DRAFT APPLIANCE FOR RAILWAY-VEHICLES.

Application filed January 11, 1816.

17 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Isaac H. MILLIKEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Aspinwall, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Draft Appliances for Railway-Vehicles: and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention pertains to draft appliances for railway vehicles, and specifically to car couplers in which the coupler head and coupler stem, or other means by which the head is mounted on the body of the railway vehicle, are connected by a vertically extending pin permitting the coupler head to swing laterally with respect to the said stem in a horizontal plane. The tendency on the part of some railroads to use heavier coupler heads, heavier knuckles and other coupler parts, consequently results in increasing the length of the coupler head from the pulling face rearwardly to the pivot or connecting pin attaching the head to the stem, thus increasing the ordinary overhang of the head beyond the carry-iron. This extra weight and overhang increases the tendency of the head to droop on the stem, especially as the pivot pin becomes worn from service.

The principal object of the invention is to provide simple and durable means which are especially adapted for efficiently minimizing and counteracting any such drooping of the coupler head as might result from the wearing of the pivot pin in cases where the coupler head is unusually heavy and projects forwardly beyond the pivot pin to a greater extent than usual.

Broadly considered, the principal feature of the invention may be said to reside in the combination of a coupler head, a coupler stem, means for pivotally connecting the head and stem so as to permit the former to swing laterally or in a horizontal plane, and a carry iron for supporting the coupler stem from the railway vehicle, the said stem being provided with a downwardly extending projection which engages the coupler head in advance of the carry iron and to the rear of the outer end of the stem;

Other features of invention, residing in elemental combinations and details of con- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 23, 1917.

Serial No. 71,527.

struction, will be apparent from the de tailed description of the preferred mode in which I contemplate embodying the principle of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure l is aplan view of a car coupler illustrating the invention, portions of the car framing to which the coupler is attached being shown and a portlon of the coupler stem being omitted. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the car coupler shown in Fig. 1, portions of the car being shown in vertical section. Fig. 8 is a detail horizontal section on the line 3 3, Fig. 2.

The portions of the car structure that have been illustrated in the drawings are the center sills 1, 1, a platform end casting or buffer casting 2, a buffer plate 3, a foot plate 1 that extends between the bufi er plate and platform end casting, and a carry iron 5 which passes under the coupler stem to afford a support for the coupler. The coupler head 6 is pivotally connected to the coupler stem 7 by means of a vertically extending pin 8, the said head being thereby capable of swinging laterally in a horizontal plane with respect to the coupler stem in either direction. It is preferred to provide means for automatically centralizing the coupler head and, for such purpose, a frame or slide 9 which is capable of reciprocation on the coupler stem 7 is preferably employed, said frame being normally forced forward by a coiled spring 10 which is carried by the coupler stem and which bears at its forward end against the rear end of the slide. At its forward end the frame or slide 9 is preferably provided with laterally separated bearing faces 11 which are adapted to engage corresponding vertically extending bearing faces on the coupler head 6 Within a pocket formed therein. This form of device for centralizing the coupler head with respect to the coupler stem is well known and is fully described in Patent No. 950,485, William Kelso, March 1, 1910.

The coupler stem 7 which, as shown in the drawings, is preferably fashioned as a composite, or built-up structure, is provided with a downward projection 15 affording a vertically extending bearing face 12 which engages a vertically extending bearing face 18 formed on the rear side of a projection 1d of the coupler head that extends downwardly below the outer end of said stem. These bearing projections on the head and carry iron 5 and to the stem engage each other in advance of the rear of the outer end. of the coupler stem 7, and, preferably, to the rear of the forward end of the yieldingly supgorted slide 9 which is mounted upon said stem. fhe bearing faces 12 and 13 are preferably curved. As shown more particularly in 2 and 3, the projection 15 on the coupler stein which forms the bearing 12 is preferably provided with a horizontally extending lower wall 16 that bears upon the upper face of the carry iron 5 the said wall 10 being of snflicient lengtn to always remain in contact with the carry iron in all draft and butting positions of the coupler.

I claim:

1. in a draft appliance for railway vehi cles, the combination of a coupler head, a coupler stem, means for pivotally connecting said head and stem so as to permit said head to swing laterally with respect to said stem and means for supporting said stem from the railway vehicle, said stem be ng provided with a downwardly extending projection which engages said coupler head in advance of said stem supporting means and to the rear of the outer end of said stem, where lay droopino of the said head is minimized.

in a draft appliance for railway vehi cles, the combination of a coupler head, a coupler stem, and means for pivotally connecting said head and stem so as to permit said head to swing laterally with respect to Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by

said stem, said head and said stem being respectively provided on their lower sides with projections which extend downwardly below the outer end of said stem and which are provided with vertically extending hearing faces that are adapted to engage each other to thereby minimize drooping of the coupler head.

3. in a draft appliance for railway vehicles the combination of a coupler head, a coupler stem, means for pivotally connecting said head and stem so as to permit said head to swing laterally with respect to said stem, and a yieldingly supported device slidably mounted on said. stem and adapted to engage said head and to centralize the same with respect to said stem, said stem being provided with a vertically extending bearing face which engages said head to the rear of the forward end of said yieldingly supported device.

l. A coupler head having alined openin 's to receive a vertically extending pivot pin whereby it may be pivotally connected to a coupler stem, said head having a rearwardly open pocl-zct adapted to receive said stem and having on its under side a projection ex tending dmvnwardly oclow the lowermost of said pivot pin openings said projection having a vertically extending bearing face dapted to engage said stem.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ISAAC H. MILLIKEN.

addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

